


Across a Table

by randomramblesff



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Multi, Platonic Relationships, Post-Canon, and annie on the phone, as usual this writer has no idea what this is, some platonic jeff and britta friendship goodness, with implied troy and britta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-27 06:05:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12075030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomramblesff/pseuds/randomramblesff
Summary: Set Post-S6 - Jeff drinks Diet Coke, Britta drinks beer and they both talk about relationships.





	Across a Table

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, I don't know why I wrote this. It felt like it needed to be a stand alone fic as it isn't directly Jeff/Annie (although it definitely isn't Jeff/Britta, either).

“Do you want a beer?” Britta calls from the kitchen, hunched over the fridge.

“Not drinking, remember?”

“Oh shit, yeah, I keep forgetting about that.” She stands up with a huff, slamming the door shut with the back of her foot, a single beer bottle in hand as she finds the cap opener in a drawer, “How long has it been now?”

Jeff blows out a breath, raising an eyebrow in contemplation.

“About… a year and a half?”

Britta bobs her head as she walks through to the living room to join him, lifting up Chompsky so she can slump down in Abed’s old recliner; she’s still keeping Apartment 303 to herself, almost for sentimental purposes. She could do with some roommates at some point but she’s finally stabilised enough to be able to cover it all completely somehow and with her growing herd of cats, it seems sensible to stay put in a place of its size even if the ceiling fans have stopped working, there’s a hole in one wall and Annie’s old room is left eerily empty, filled up with cardboard boxes and belongings left behind.

“Pretty good going, I’m impressed, to be honest with you. I thought you would have wanted to have got drunk  _at least_ once.”

“Kind of the point of stopping. To  _stop_ me from getting drunk all the time.”

She shrugs, picking at the cuticles of her free, beer-less hand. It’s strange when it’s just the two of them and funnily enough it’s not because of any awkwardness or resentment or left-over feelings milling around, it’s simply just because they’re so used to it  _not_ just being the two of them, even after that long summer two-years ago where she had to watch Jeff moping around over his now-girlfriend, Annie. She’s proud to say she shook him out of shutting himself off from the world a couple of times during those few months. She’d be lying to herself if she said she hadn’t been scared by him back then. He’d been fragile even if the way he held himself and built up his physical body seemed to show the opposite.

“Eh, I’m glad you did. At least one of us has to be sober in order for us all to stay sane as we figure out this crazy, post-study group world.”

He laughs inwardly, his eyes searching the floor.

“Don’t let Annie hear you say the words ‘post-study group’. You should see her group chat, we’re still labelled as the Save Greendale Committee in her phone and I  _live_  with her.”

"Ugh,” She pushes her feet on the ground to make the chair spin around, stopping it when she faces him again, “yes, Jeff, we get it, you’ve been with her for two years, congratulations.”

He tilts his head and grins at her sarcasm, responding genuinely.

“Thank you.”

She takes a long sip of her beer and when she swallows and opens her eyes fully again from drinking, Jeff’s phone is out of his pocket and between his hands. She rolls her eyes whilst he’s not looking, his eyes glued to his screen as he checks it for the twentieth time since he walked through the door. He’s pouting in thought, pulling his thumb down the glass to refresh whatever he’s looking at and she realises that this is actually probably hard for him - sure she might not know or understand how to deal with him on every level but she’s learned enough to realise that people leaving, even temporarily, can sometimes send him into a crazed panic.

“You really miss her, don’t you?”

He looks up, takes a deep breath and locks his phone before sliding it back into his jeans, arching his back a little against the cushions of the couch.

“I’m just checking.” Britta folds her lips in and hides her smirk but fails when it reaches her eyes, “Time-zones, and… stuff.”

She snorts over the rim of her beer.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed, trust me, I was there at the start of your relationship. I’ve seen and heard  _much_ worse than you admitting you miss your girlfriend, Jeff.”

“I’m not embarrassed.” He tucks in his chin, acting as if he’s completely baffled by that assumption.

“Then admit that her being away for the first time is driving you crazy.”

“It’s not driving me crazy, I just haven’t heard from her and I want to make sure she’s okay.”

“Because you miss her.” Britta pulls a face, craning her head forehead to make her point clearer.

“Yeah, fine, I miss her. I miss my girlfriend and the woman I’m probably going to marry. I’m in a relationship, of course, I miss her. I spend every day with her.”

"Oh yeah, you do, don’t know you? You guys do everything together, I’m surprised you didn’t tag along with her.”

“We don’t do  _everything_ together and, hell no, this is important to her, I’m not getting in the way of that, which you would understand if  _you_  had a boyfriend.”

“Ugh, why when people get into relationships do they think it’s the solution to everyone else’s problems? And yeah, you, of all people are included. Before Annie, you were on  _my_ side.”

“Yeah… some decisions I made in response to certain situations may beg to differ. Ones of which included you.”

Britta chokes on her next sip of beer, making her hold her hand to her face to wipe away what she spits out.

“Ugh, don’t remind me. At this point, I don’t even know if it’s worth it.”

Jeff squints up his face, tilting his head from side to side as he thinks about it.

“I could see you going all the way and never settling down and you’d probably still be happy.”

She rests her head back on the chair, gazing up at the ceiling.

“Plus, keeping it casual can be fun… although, there are definitely benefits to the other side of the coin, too.”

She snorts again, smiling out of self-deprecation.

“I’m almost thirty-six, I don’t have time to start thinking about that again.”

“And you’re talking to me. Get to forty-three and see how I feel.”

“Yeah but you had it easy, you didn’t even have to look for someone, or, you did, but it was only across a table.”

Jeff leans forward on the edge of the couch, clasping his hands between his legs.

“Didn’t you?”

She’s still slumped back in her chair but this time she turns her head away from him.

“I’m pretty sure that ship has sailed.”

Jeff chuckles briefly, trying not to throw her off.

“Ha, funny, although I’m pretty sure he’s back on dry land now.”

“Ugh, I don’t know.” Britta groans, “I’m pretty sure that’s over.”

Jeff shrugs, feeling as if he could actually have some influence on this.

“You just have to figure out what you want. Take it from me, you don’t want to wait too long.”

“I just… I’m slowing down. So yeah, I’ve been to  _one_ woman’s march in the past year but he’s travelled the world and been to more countries I’ll ever be able to go to in my life.”

“Annie’s getting a Master’s and is in Canada at some fancy forensics convention right now, it doesn’t make me not want to be with her. In fact, it’s more of a reason to because maybe next time I’ll go with her. And… no offence to Troy but, I’m pretty sure he matured a hell of a lot whilst he was gone. It would probably be better for you guys, now.”

She huffs out before pushing her feet down again, spinning the chair swiftly to face him head on, her tune and expression changing instantly.

“So, when  _are_  you and Annie getting married?”

His eyes widen and he grins back at her attempt at steering the conversation away from her and onto him, again.

“Nice use of denial and distraction but I’ll let you off because I’ve sure as heck used it a few too many times before.”

Before he answers, Britta empties her bottle with one last swig before slowly lowering it to the ground.

“And… I don’t know. Soon, maybe. Probably next year. But, I don’t know.”

She grins and scrunches up her face, pointing a finger towards him in her own version of giddy excitement.

“Next year! Holy shit! Next year, oh man.”

“So, when you are gonna’ go to LA?” He barks back, using her own tactic. She falls back with a sigh, crossing her arms over.

“Ugh, I don’t know… when I can afford it.  _If,_ I can afford it.”

“Wow, Britta Perry  _not_ doing something because you only live once after saying she wishes she could do more like the guy she still kind of wants to be with.”

She groans before standing up, swinging her arm down to grab her beer bottle.

“I need more beer.”

He snickers and waits until she’s in the kitchen to check his phone again. Just as he goes to unlock it, it starts vibrating and buzzing in his hand as Annie’s face flashes up on the screen. He presses green immediately.

“Hey.”

Britta looks up from where she’s popping the lid off a fresh bottle, realising he’s on the phone. She hangs back, respecting his privacy, the tone of his voice making her presume Annie has finally made her call. She can only hear what he’s saying, just a one-sided conversation, his voice low and deep as he tries to keep it between himself and the phone.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I was waiting for you… it’s okay, don’t worry… I’m just with Britta, she invited me over… Uh, comparing it to being in Toronto, no you’re probably not… Yeah, didn’t do much, what about you? Learn anything new?…” He laughs briefly at whatever she’s saying, beaming from ear to ear as he gets more comfortable on the couch, laying down on his back, “That’s pretty cool… I’m glad you went, don’t worry about me… I know… I miss you, too.”

Britta takes a sip of her drink and turns away so her back is facing him through the frame of the kitchen but of course, that doesn’t mean she can’t continue to hear every word.

“Yeah, three more days… no, I’ll pick you up, of course, I will… It will be late for you too and I’ll want to pick you up because you’ll be tired from travelling… Yeah, of course, we can… If you want… Ring me tomorrow, okay?… Alright, I love you… Love you, goodnight.”

She doesn’t notice Jeff ending his call because she’s on her own phone, chewing her lip as she looks down at Troy’s number.

“Hey, what was that documentary Duncan told us to watch?”

She shakes her head and grabs her beer, sliding her phone across the kitchen counter to be dealt with later.

“Oh yeah, I’ll set it up. Are you sure don’t want anything to drink?”

“Uh, you got any Diet Coke?”

She hums as she scours the fridge and Jeff’s in luck as she plucks a can from the back of a shelf. She throws it to him as she passes by, hearing him open it a few moments later.

"Sorry, Annie called, it’s like 1am there so I didn’t want to miss it.”

As she plays around with the TV, she laughs.

“Like you’d miss it anyway.”


End file.
